Scarbinsky: Auburn smart to target Tubby, consider Person

The NBA knows Chuck Person, here shooting over Larry Bird in the old days, as more than a great player. (NBA.com)If you’re still wondering if Auburn cares about basketball, stop.

From all indications, Auburn wants to hire Tubby Smith.

If it happens, it’ll be the biggest statement Auburn has made in this sport in ages.

Bigger even than building that new arena.

All opening a new arena does is open possibilities that didn’t exist before. Hiring a coach like Smith with a proven track record is as close to a sure thing as Auburn can get.

Sure, before he went to Minnesota three years ago, he stopped winning the way Kentucky expects to win. But he didn’t stop winning, and he didn’t stop representing the program in a first-class manner.

In some ways, Smith could be a better fit at Auburn than Kentucky, where one Final Four and one national title in 10 years, especially if they come in your first year, just aren’t enough.

To imagine what Smith might do at Auburn, look back to what he did at Georgia. Two years. Two 20-win seasons. Two NCAA trips. One Sweet 16.

At Auburn, that’s become a good decade.

There’s no sure thing in a coaching search until the new man is standing at the podium. What if, at the end of the day, Smith declines?

Auburn is smart enough to consider several options. One of them appears to be Chuck Person.

His candidacy is the most intriguing because most observers seem to know the least about him, beyond his stature as perhaps Auburn’s all-time greatest player.

Person enjoyed a long and distinguished career as an NBA player, too. Since his retirement, he’s worked with four different NBA clubs as everything from associate to the head coach to assistant to the president to assistant coach and defensive coordinator.

Beyond the titles, Person has become one of the most respected men in the NBA.

Don’t just take my word for it. Listen to Dallas Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle, who’s known Person for 20 years, dating to their playing days.

“He has all the tools to be a high-impact coach at any level,” Carlisle told me. “He’d be a great hire for Auburn if they could pull it off.”

Donnie Walsh, the president of the New York Knicks, worked with Person with the Indiana Pacers. I asked Walsh if he would recommend Person for the job if Auburn called.

Person was a finalist for the Chicago Bulls job in 2008, which went to Vinny Del Negro.

This season, Person joined the world champion Lakers as an assistant coach. Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak told me it speaks volumes about Person that head coach Phil Jackson added him to a veteran staff.

“If they didn’t think he could bring something to the table, they wouldn’t have invited him into the group,” Kupchak said.

What would Person bring to the table as the Auburn head coach?

“He’s not a PR guy,” Kupchak said. “It’s not smoke and mirrors with him. He’s got substance. I can envision him in front of a family (on a recruiting visit) being very sincere and honest.”

Carlisle noted that even though Person has been in the NBA, he’s worked with several players who made the jump straight from high school, including Jermaine O’Neal, Jonathan Bender and Al Harrington.

“He’d be great in that (recruiting) environment,” Carlisle said. “Even better, he’d be great at cultivating young men out of high school and turning them into terrific people and terrific players.”

Bottom line: Some of the biggest movers and shakers in the NBA believe the 45-year-old Person has a bright future as a head coach.

“In college or the NBA,” Walsh said.

Kupchak said the Lakers “would be very disappointed if Chuck didn’t come back next year, but we always encourage our guys if they can take a step up to become a head coach.”

Carlisle’s take: “He would get the job done. I don’t have any question. There’s no one out there that would outwork him. There’s no one out there that has his ties to the university and his career credentials that would even compare.”

It’s hard to compare Smith and Person because one has won a national title and one has yet to become a head coach.

Smith may be at the top of Auburn’s wish list, but that list is even stronger because it includes Person.